Subject: Czech food question

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 06 Jan 94 16:43:02 EST

I just made a mistake and posted this as a part of the piano player for
hire thread, so I'll try it again.  Oops.  I'm a librarian, and I have a patron
who is telling me that a runza--a bread dough filled meat, cabbage, and onion
"thing"--is a Czech item.  I'm 50% Czechoslovakian, and I was always under the
impression that a runza was a resturant concoction that never really had
anything to do with the Czechs.  My Czech grandmother filled me full of
zelnicky, rholicky, hoskas, babovka and kolache (all spellings improvised,
Grandma could bake 'em, but she never made me spell 'em). Anyway, can anyone
say if runzas really are a Czech item, or is that just an Omaha rumor? (My
patron says it's really Lincoln, not Omaha).  Thanks for any help.  Beth
Hronek  [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Andrea Palounek)
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 01:37:38 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] writes:
... (stuff)
>"thing"--is a Czech item.  
... (more stuff)

well, for what it's worth, I'm Czech, and have never *heard* of runza.
I'll ask some friends.

Andrea Palounek (properly Palounkova, but you know how it is... :))

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 14 Jan 94 14:06:50 -0600

> well, for what it's worth, I'm Czech, and have never *heard* of runza.

Ditto.  And I'm not finding it in my St. Wenceslaus Parish Cookbook.
There is a Czech museum/folk center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa... perhaps
they'd know.

Kay Klier  Biology Dept  UNI

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From: [email-masked] (Andrea Palounek)
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 16:55:49 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] writes:
>   ... (stuff) I'm a librarian, and I have a patron
(more stuff)

The score on "runza" is:

About a dozen native Czechs (mostly Americans, now), a Slovak from Moravia,
two Czech cookbooks, three English or American books on Czech cooking, and
several dictionaries have never heard of runza.  The closest we've come up
with is "brynza," which is a cheese.  I guess runza is a Nebraskan impostor.
Oh well.  It was fun asking, though.  Does this mean Czechs have now made
it to the gastronomic levels of, say, Italians, who are (incorrectly) attributed
with pizza?  Wow!  :-) :-)              Cheers,   Andrea

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From: [email-masked] (Daniel Paul Checkman)
Date: 21 Jan 1994 01:20:58 GMT

>with pizza?  Wow!  :-) :-)              Cheers,   Andrea

Add another Czech person that has never heard of a runza.
:-Dan

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From: [email-masked] (Mark Schuldenfrei)
Date: 21 Jan 94 10:01:29 EST

[email-masked] (Andrea Palounek) writes:
>with is "brynza," which is a cheese.

Which reminds me.  A few years ago I was looking for a source for Brynza
cheese, which I could never find. Does anyone have any suggestions for
domestic US sources, especially ones near Massachusetts?

My mother, who was Hungarian, made a spread with Brynza, which she called
(phonetic spelling) koo-ruh-zoot.  I have no idea how it was spelled
properly. I believe I remember the recipe, but would love to hear informed
commentary.

	Mark Schuldenfrei
-- 
Mark Schuldenfrei ([email-masked])

Beethoven's 9th sounds like it was written by a deaf man, doesn't it?